A developer whose plan for a subdivision with affordable housing was rejected last month has resubmitted a similar plan for the same parcel to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Developer Brenmor Properties of Gales Ferry still plans for 18 homes on the 13-acre parcel between Ames Road and South Burnham Highway. The original plan for The Residences at Lisbon called for 18 homes on lots that averaged much smaller than the one-acre minimum for that area. The plan called for the road to open onto Ames Road and split off in two directions from there, ending in dead ends at residents’ homes. Commissioners rejected that plan, citing concerns about narrow roadways and steep driveways that could hamper emergency and delivery trucks, and residential drinking water wells being too close to the street, where sand and salt from winter road clearing could contaminate drinking water.

Timothy Hollister, the attorney for the developer, said the new proposal alleviates concerns about turning around by making the shared driveway a looped road. It’s still narrower than the 26 to 28 feet required for town roads, but eliminates the concerns about turning around commissioners had. Wells have also been moved farther into the lots.

Normally, smaller lot sizes and narrower roads than town zoning rules permit would doom a development. But Brenmor submitted its application under the state’s affordable housing codes, which allow developers to skirt zoning rules in order to build more homes if they keep just less than one-third of the homes deed-restricted as affordable to middle-income families. Town zoning commissions can still reject the applications if they find that the developers’ plans would be detrimental to health and safety. The plan calls for 12 homes at market rate and six deed-restricted as affordable. It would be Lisbon’s first affordable housing development.

After the development proposal was rejected by the planning and zoning commission last month, the developer had two options to try to get the development built: appeal in court, or resubmit a changed plan within 30 days. Hollister said the resubmission under a unique provision of the law allowed both the town and developer to avoid a costly court fight.

“We’ve used it (the resubmission provision) very successfully in a number of occasions to completely eliminate or respond to conditions of denial, or at least narrow the issues,” he said. “In this case, I think we met all of the commission’s major concerns. I hope they see it that way.”

The statutes that govern the resubmission process provide a two-month timeframe for the commission to review the application, hold a public hearing and act on the application, with no extensions permitted. That gives the commission until early April to decide. The first public hearing on the re-submitted application is set for March 5.